A colleage had a Zune 30 (first Gen) for quite a while. I never bothered even looking at the device as I was never intereted, so far, in portable players. As you can imagine, today I asked her to let me use it for a while. I was impressed.

The sound is spectacular, compared to my iPod's. Actually, in absolute terms, is just good; as good as I expected from any player in this price range. Volume is slightly higher than my iPod's, but the quality is *remarkably* better. It was a real pleasure to listen to.
My colleague was complaining that the max volume is not as high as she would have liked.
Now, she is using... $8 earplugs. No kidding. $ 8, lowest quality ever, earplugs!!
And, she has not only higher volume, but mostly much much better sound quality. That old Zune 30 clearly is a device that would sound spectacular with good earplugs. I am going to soon test it with mine.

So, while its max volume is yes an issue, I believe the iPod 6G has also a serious problem with audio quality compared to its predecessors, and even mor eits competitors.

And, let me spend few words about Zune's sw and interface. While the case itself is not nearly as nice as the Ipod's, it is not bad looking, still neat and nice. And, its larger screen compensates completely for that. Your eyes are completely camptured by it and looking at the device is in the end just as, if not more, appealing that using the iPod. The larger screen is quite good and very readable. And the software (NOT yet updated to Zune 3,0) is graphically appealing, immeidate and very pleasant to use.
Just to add one more flaw to 6G iPod, Zune's responsiveness made me realize how frequently 6G iPod's sw pauses to load from the HDD. This never happens with G2 and 3 iPods I've used, and I believe not even G5.
Using this old and scratched Zune 30 was 10 times more rewarding and pleasant then my new shiny iPod, where the low volume is just one of the causes.

Finally, the radio: I've been reading many good things about Zune's FM tuner in the last few days, and I was expecting a lot. Well, it really ia good. Loud and clear, little statics, very nice, simple, and clear interface.

Once more, I really hope Zune integrates well with my car stereo, which is going to be a major selling point for me. But, having said thar, I may be getting a Zune regardless of this factor and regardless of how well I can fix the iPods audio issues. I think Zune is just a much better product, in almost all regards, plain and simple.